In Virginia, state legislators redraw district lines for the U.S. Congress, the Virginia House of Delegates and the Senate of Virginia after every 10-year census. Under the current system, the party in power in the House and the party in power in the Senate can draw the lines to serve their own interests, not those of our communities.
[intense_blockquote]GERRYMANDERING is the deliberate manipulation of legislative district boundaries to advantage or benefit a particular party or group, or to cause disadvantage or harm to an opposing party or group. It distorts the electoral process, undermines democracy, and renders legislative elections a meaningless exercise. It’s a conflict of interest for the legislature to draw it’s own district lines. [/intense_blockquote]
Virginia is ranked as one of the most gerrymandered states in the country both on the congressional and state levels based on lack of compactness and contiguity of its districts.Virginia is ranked the 5th worst in the country.Throughout the Commonwealth, counties and cities are being broken in half or into multiple pieces to create heavily partisan districts.
Calling your legislator is one of the best ways to influence their opinions on bills and topics. Emailing is a good resource but getting a phone call really makes legislators notice an issue.
So we need you to take two minutes, pick up the phone and call your delegate right now.
Here’s all you need to say:
I support redistricting reform. I support HJ 763 in the House of Delegates and SJ 290 in the Senate. I do not want voting districts drawn to favor or disfavor any political party or person. These bills would put a stop to political gerrymandering.
Your delegate might say that he/she can’t vote for reform because there’s pending litigation – this is BOGUS. 1. There will be a decision from SCOTUS in the next few weeks in the Bethune-Hill case, which is about racial gerrymandering. 2. Our legislation is for a constitutional amendment – those take two years to pass! If SCOUTS decides something that would affect this legislation (we can’t even think of what that might be), the General Assembly can always kill this bill next year. HJ 763 is a simple and straight-forward solution, and there is no good reason to vote no. We NEED a YES VOTE on HJ763. Call them and let them know. www.onevirginia2021.org/call
Posted by OneVirginia2021 on Saturday, January 28, 2017
